Hollow Hunting
by mangamaniac02
Summary: This is the story of how Ichigo's Soul Reaper life spills into his normal, human life. Can Ichigo somehow save both... without his whole world tearing apart? And how will Orihime fit into this whole mess? (Please read/review) -Ichime-
1. Hollow Hitches & School Snags

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters in this story, and I have only read volumes 1-14 of Bleach, so I know only a decent amount of Bleach knowledge. I'm no expert or anything.

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Ichigo huffed and puffed, leaning on Zangetsu as he put one hand on his stomach. He looked down and saw blood… Well, what else would be expected? Ichigo picked up Zangetsu and swing him over his shoulder, and with a flying leap Ichigo flew up in the air, rising, rising, until he suddenly reached the apex of his flight and he started to descend. The Hollow below him, a very vile Hollow to say the least, snarled up at Ichigo and leaped into the air to join him. As the Hollow rushed up, Ichigo went down, gaining speed, until suddenly the two collided and came crashing to the ground. A fine shroud of dust kicked up, concealing the two.

"Ichigo! Ichi-" she coughed as the dust started to reach her lungs. "Ichigo, are you alright!" she yelled, worried.

As the dust settled, Rukia saw Ichigo, standing on top of the Hollow who had Zangetsu embedded in it's face.

As Ichigo pulled his Zanpakuto out of the Hollow, he replied,"Yeah, yeah, of course I am. What do you take me for, an amatuer? This order was easy."

Rukia rolled her eyes and started to walk back towards school,"Come one Ichigo, I doubt that Kon can stand much more of being in your body." she said as she walked away.

"Oh crap, I completely forgot about that! Man, that creep better not have done anything again!" Ichigo said, rushing to get back to school.

When Ichigo got to school, he jumped up the school wall to the window ledge of the class that he, or Kon, should be in right now. When he landed on the ledge and looked inside, he saw a surprising sight. There was Kon, sitting there obediently. "What a relief." Ichigo whispered to himself. Yet then he took a closer look at Kon to find him drooling, "Gross," Ichigo said, then he realized the reason why. Kon was freakin eyeballing Orihime again!

"That Kon! I swear, when I get my hands on him…" Ichigo whispered. Ichigo crossed through the window, seeing how he was still in Soul Reaper form, and tapped lightly on Kon's shoulder, to not distract the class. When Kon looked up he jumped in surprise, seeing how Ichigo was glaring at him in frustration.

"Oh, Ichigo," Kon whispered, as not to draw attention,"I...I, ah, didn't see you there. Heh, heh, heh…" Kon said, his laugh trailing off as Ichigo glared harder at himself.

"Kon, get. Out. Of. My. Body." Ichigo said, with frustration in each word.

"Fine, I wanted to get out of your stupid, icky body anyways." Kon said with his arms crossed.

Then, by knocking the back of his head, Kon knocked out the Soul Pill, caught it just in time before his soul left Ichigo's body, and Ichigo's spiritual form moved in. Ichigo stretched a bit, well, as much as he could in a chair, then he put Kon in his pocket. "Heh, enjoy Kon." he said mischieviously. As the lunch bell rang Ichigo walked off to his usual spot with Mizuiro and Keigo. When suddenly Uryu approaches him, weird, they almost never talk to each other, let alone approach each other.

"Ichigo, as much as I'm sorry to say this, but, I sense a strong spiritual presence somewhere in the east. I'm afraid it's a Hollow and, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm afraid I'll need your help."

Ichigo chuckled in disbelief,"Me, you're really asking for help from me?"

"Ichigo, this pressure, it's not like other Hollows," Uryu said,"I'm afraid that even I won't be able to take it on alone."

Ichigo shook his head, however he said at the same time,"Alright, whatever. But keep in mind that I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for those innocent people whose souls are in danger." Ichigo said, pulling out Kon.

As Uryu began running away towards the Hollow, Ichigo popped Kon in his mouth and ran off, the sound of Kon's angry remarks at him fading away. As Ichigo rushed after Uryu, he couldn't help but wonder what could cause such a commotion. After all, they hated each other, Ichigo and Uryu. So, if Uryu had to get Ichigo just to handle a Hollow, it must be pretty serious. Hmm… what if another Menos Grande has appeared? No, that would take tons of Hollows to make… unless, Uryu released another Hollow bait. No, she learned her lesson from last time.

Finally, Ichigo and Uryu arrived on the scene. Right next to Kisuke's shop, there was a Hollow of enormous proportions, nearly two times the size of the shop. Ichigo's knees bent a little from the weight of the spirit pressure emitting from the gigantic Hollow. It's face was crude, like a hockey mask but with Indian face painting, kind of. As for it's body, it looked like a giant hunchbacked, well, giant, with claws almost as big as Ichigo was tall! As they approached the Hollow, Uryu pulled Ichigo aside.

"What's the problem, why aren't we attacking that thing." Ichigo whispered angrily.

"Ichigo, it appears that the Hollow hasn't sensed us yet." Uryu whispered. "Now, if we can just form a plan, with our strengths combined, strategy, and the art of surprise then we may just have a chance at beating this guy." Uryu said.

"Okay, I have a plan." Ichigo said, pulling out Zangetsu."We just smash the Hollow's face in!" Ichigo shouted, rushing at the Hollow.

The Hollow turned to face him, and with a growl, swung one of his giant clawed arms down at him. Without a second to spare, Ichigo moved to the side, just narrowly dodging the Hollow's arm. Then, with a giant crash, the Hollow's arm collided with the ground, embedding its arm in the concrete. Suddenly, Ichigo hopped on the Hollow's arm, rushed up to the Hollow's face, and with a giant leap Ichigo flew up in the air… and got smashed to the ground by the Hollow's _other_ , arm. Ichigo coughed and got up, leaning on Zangetsu. He looked up from the little crater he was in and saw Uryu firing at the Hollow.

As Ichigo climbed out of the crater, he walked up to Uryu and said,"Can't let you have the fun."

"Well, looks like you already had some." Uryu replied, still firing arrows at the gigantic Hollow. "Now, try doing something useful and get the Hollow." Uryu said.

Ichigo was already back in the action, rushing at the Hollow again more determined than the last time. As the Hollow was distracted by Uryu, blocking his attacks as best as the Hollow could with one arm, Ichigo rushed at the Hollow with Zangetsu extended and sliced through the Hollow's exposed side. The Hollow shrieked in agony, however, besides that, the Hollow only seemed to get angrier.

Uryu grimaced and gave a little growl.

"Great job Ichigo, you just succeeded in making the Hollow angrier. Now he's just stronger than before!" Uryu exclaimed.

Again, Ichigo ignored him and rushed at the Hollow again. This time, however, the Hollow was ready, for this Hollow was not only strong physically, but mentally too. So when Ichigo came at the Hollow, Zangetsu in hand, the Hollow hit him once again, yet this time he flew up in the air and crashed into the houses nearby the shop. However, as Ichigo got up he noticed the Hollow writhing in pain, and he noticed that Uryu had _finally_ landed a successful hit on the Hollow.

Without a second to waste, Ichigo got up, rushed at the Hollow, and with a giant leap in the air, stabbed the Hollow in the face.

As Ichigo pulled Zangetsu from the Hollow, Uryu walked up to him and said,"Well, looks like you finally made yourself useful."

"Hey, well thanks for that, like, _one_ successful hit you made. Yeah, real helpful you were." Ichigo replied, as he started walking back towards school.

Yet as he walked away he heard a terrible noise behind him, that of which sounded like claws on a chalkboard, or rubbing your fork on your dinner plate. Ichigo paused to hold his ears, then turned in the direction of this terrible noise, it was coming from the dead Hollow. Or, was it dead… for as the noise continued the giant Hollow split in half. Down the middle, a nice clean cut, and then it starting, morphing. No, not morphing, it started healing itself, building the other half of their bodies', until suddenly there were two Hollows.

These Hollows looked exactly the same as the previous one, the first, however there was one significant difference. These two Hollows came out a wee bit smaller than the first, roughly three-fourths the size of the original. As Uryu stared up at the creatures, he whispered,"Oh great." Ichigo started running at the two Hollows as Uryu started firing arrows at the beasts. When Ichigo reached the Hollows he took Zangetsu by the cloth attached to the handle, as he had seen that mysterious being do during their duel within his soul, and whispered,"Please Zangetsu, lend me your strength as we fight these Hollows." So with a giant leap into the air, Ichigo swung Zangetsu round and round, and with a big swing Zangetsu decapitated both Hollows, simple as that.

However, when Ichigo landed, the Hollows collapsed bodies simply grew new heads, and as the decapitated heads lay on the ground they started growing bodies too. These Hollows just kept on coming back, was there no stopping them? Yet all that didn't matter, Ichigo would just keep on fighting till the end! Suddenly, two arrows flew through the air and went through the face of two of the four Hollows.

Ichigo turned to see Uryu, who in turn faced him and shouted,"The Hollows are getting smaller making them easier for me to kill, however they just keep coming back!"

"Yeah," Ichigo replied,"I think we've noticed that by now. Any ideas on how to stop this, this, reviving thing?"

"Well, a thought, but merely an idea. So, maybe if we can kill all of them at once, and if we can dispose of the remains at once, then there is no way that the Hollow can 'revive.'" Uryu replied.

Ichigo nodded, and turned to face the six Hollows before them, for the two killed by Uryu had simply revived again, and for once a plan formed in Ichigo's head.

"Uryu!" Ichigo shouted. "Stay right where you are and don't shoot until I say so, got it!"

"Wait, what?!" Uryu shouted back.

"Just do as I say!" Ichigo replied, shouting.

Uryu did as told and stopped firing, summoning all the spirit energy around her for one big shot, meanwhile Ichigo rushed around the group of Hollows. The Hollows were confused, for Ichigo was running at great speeds, and they attempted to swipe at him but did not prevail in the end. Actually, the Hollows started forming together, almost as is Ichigo were, herding them… Suddenly the Hollows all formed a straight line directly in front of Uryu, and Uryu saw what Ichigo's plan was. So with all the spirit energy summoned as possible from around her, Uryu pulled back the string and let go an immense arrow.

The arrow tore through the necks of all the Hollows, decapitating them all, then Ichigo, whom was at the back of the line, leaped into the air, then slammed down Zangetsu on the ground, resulting in a shockwave strong enough to turn the remains of the Hollow to spiritual mince meat. Suddenly, the ground opened up and the earth swallowed the few remaining parts of the Hollow, it seemed that the Hollow had done some bad things in his lifetime. Ichigo, breathing heavily, picked up Zangetsu, whispered a quick little thank you, and started walking back to school. As he left, Ichigo glanced over at Uryu, nodded, and walked away, for he was to tired to argue or even speak.

True, it had been a small battle, but with all that spiritual pressure off his back he felt like curling up and taking a nice relaxing nap. When Ichigo arrived at school and got his body back, it was already about time to leave, guess that battle may have taken a little longer than he thought, or maybe it was the fact that he took a nap on the way back? Either way, Mizuiro was cool with however did ask a little bit about where he'd been, Keigo however was a different story.

When I walked up to him, he grabbed me by the shirt and shouted,"Where have you been man! Today has been so dark and dreary since you've been gone, I almost couldn't take it. But you're back, you're back! Everything is now within balance again in this crazy thing we call life" Keigo said.

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too Keigo." Ichigo responded plainly.

"Where were you!" Keigo shouted, with fire in his eyes.

"Oh, just decided to go out for lunch today, however I guess I didn't check the time." Ichigo replied, yet again without emotion.

Their conversation played out until the bell rang, signalling the end of the school day, where Ichigo finally made his escape and went outside. With a sigh, of relief, Ichigo started walking the way home, normally he'd walk home with Mizuiro and Keigo, but today Ichigo felt like being by himself.

However, his plans were hindered as Orihime walked by him, books in hand, and asked,"Hey Ichigo, whatcha up to?"

Ichigo sighed, and responded,"Oh, you know, just walking home." he responded.

Orihime nodded, she was surprisingly silent during school today, and on the way home was no different.

So after about five minutes of silence, Ichigo faced her and asked,"Something wrong, you've been awfully quiet today."

Orihime sighed,"Well, it's just that… I'm concerned about you Ichigo."

Ichigo gave Orihime a confused look,"Why'd you be concerned about me?"

"Well, it's just that, you know how you're always out hunting Hollows all the time?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, the teachers are starting to get suspicious, and actually I overheard some of the teachers talking about you in the teacher's lounge. And, and...:" Orihime said, obviously struggling to find the correct words.

"And…" Ichigo asked, egging her on.

"And, if you're gone more than one more time during the school day, they're going to suspend you… like, for the rest of the year." Orihime said.

Ichigo stopped walking, I mean sure, this was school we were talking about, no big deal, but a good education is important, not to mention that there he can see his friend's every day. Plus, there were still a lot more day of school left, as in about one whole quarter, and though that might be good for the Soul Reaper part of him, what about the truly human side of him.

Ichigo just stood there and shook his head,If I go to answer an order then I'll get suspended, and if I don't answer the order, then innocent souls will die." Ichigo looked Orihime right in the eyes. "What do I do now?"

Orihime had tears in her eyes, wow, Ichigo didn't know that Orihime would care about him so deeply. "I don't know." she said, sniffling here and there every so often.

Ichigo felt like embracing her, or comforting her in some way, but he didn't want it to be awkward, besides Ichigo had never felt like doing that before so he already felt awkward so putting those feeling into action would just be weirder. However, Ichigo did walk Orihime home, waved goodbye at her from the driveway, and then went home to the clinic. Yet as he went to his room, Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about what he'd actually thought about earlier. When he was talking to Orihime, he had thought how their are two sides to him, the Soul Reaper part and the human part, and as he struggled to sleep that night, he wondered how he could satisfy both… Without his whole world tearing apart.


	2. More Trouble?

Ichigo stared at the chalkboard at the front of the class, struggling to stay awake. ichigo had been up late worrying over his current situation and had hardly slept at all, and the teacher's monotonous voice wasn't helping him stay awake either. So, Ichigo had thought long and hard, and he had decided that he would attend school and neglect his Soul Reaper duties. It sounded bad at first, but then Ichigo remembered that there were still Uryu, Chad, and Orihime, and all of them had been training as of late, so he was sure that he was more than not needed.

Ichigo's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sharp tap on the shoulder, he turned to the side to find Rukia poking at him. "Ichigo," she whispered, leaning closer across the aisle, "we have a Hollow."

Ichigo looked back and forth to make sure no one was looking, and responded, "Rukia, listen. I, I can't do it. I have to stay here."

"What, what are you talking about? You have a responsibility to fulfill, now get you butt out there right now!"

"Rukia, shh! Don't raise your voice, listen, I have a perfectly good reason to stay."

"Oh yeah? Shoot."

Ichigo took a deep breath then explained to her the situation, being a Soul Reaper she didn't quite understand at first, however after some explaining she understood the gravity of the situation and instead told the situation to Chad and Orihime, who immediately asked to be excused and left. As Orihime went out the door, Ichigo happened to catch her eye, and what was that he saw in it? Sadness? Fear? Happiness even? Ichigo shook his head and turned back to the teacher, trying to pay attention. However, Ichigo couldn't, for when he looked into Orihime's eyes he remembered yesterday, what Orihime had said, what she had felt for him. Then Ichigo realized that the look Orihime had given him was a look of understanding, Orihime knew why Rukia went to Chad and herself instead of Ichigo, but then why did that look feel and seem so sad. Ichigo suddenly heard a roar rip through the air, and Ichigo looked out the window casually, however inside he was freaking out a little. That didn't sound like a little Hollow, but they would be fine, Chad had the offensive side covered very well, and Orihime could not only protect, but wound Chad or herself in case of injury.

As Ichigo had expected, the Hollow was not a small one, this one was particularly big actually. Out at the front of the school, clinging to a wall was a big Hollow, it looked toadish and was sticking to the walls, which explained why the walls weren't crushed and why the school wasn't in mass hysteria right now, and across the school yard was standing Chad, with both arms fully released, and in one of them he clutched something, what seemed to be… A body? Then Ichigo realized that Orihime was nowhere to be found out there, was that her? Could it be her? Please don't be her, Ichigo thought, but unfortunately Ichigo looked closer and it indeed was Orihime, and she had lots of cuts and bruises, however in the middle of her chest was a little hole, bleeding badly.

Ichigo immediately jumped up from his seat, and raised his hand. "Miss, may I use the bathroom." he somewhat shouted, hardly able to keep still.

The teacher shook her head. "Sorry Ichigo, but lately you've been sneaking off to other places with that same excuse." she responded calmly.

Ichigo looked outside and at the teacher. "But, but Miss, you don't understand."

"Take your seat Ichigo"

"But Mis-"

"Take Your Seat, Mr. Kurosaki." the teacher said, trying to stay calm, but losing her patience and saying each word sharply.

Ichigo nodded and sat down and did all he could right now, just sit and watch. Ichigo did that for about the rest of the class time, after which was lunch which was lucky. Ichigo rushed to the cafetorium and grabbed his food, and instead of meeting Keigo and Mizuiro at their normal spot, Ichigo texted Chad to meet him on the roof for lunch, for by the time the class had ended the battle had wrapped up. So after a bit of waiting and eating on the roof, Chad came out of the stairwell door, and even though Chad's face was devoid of emotion and Ichigo couldn't see Chad's eyes, Ichigo knew something was up immediately.

"Chad, what happened out there. I didn't see all of it, but I saw enough." Ichigo said calmly to Chad. "What happened out there man, I saw a little hole in her chest and tons of blood, what happened?"

Chad looked up, and for once Ichigo thought he saw a little bit of tears in Chad's eye, and he struggled to respond, "Her, her shield, it didn't work, and the attack came out of nowhere so I didn't have any time to react…"

"Don't lose me Chad, so what happened."

"The Hollow, he, he shot out his tongue and Orihime saw that it was coming for me and just, got in the way."

Ichigo breathed a deep breath. "Where is she, where did you take her." Ichigo asked.

Chad looked Ichigo in the eye. "Well, the closest place that could treat her wounds." Chad said, like it was obvious.

Then Ichigo took in a deep breath of realization, of course, Orihime was at the home in the shop, but, did they have the right medical equipment to save her. Heck, could she even be alive right now? A small chunk of her had been ripped out. Ichigo shook his head, he had to believe in his father and believe that Orihime would be okay. What Orihime needed right now was the 4th Division, now they could be useful right now, very useful. Ichigo nodded towards Chad and put his hand on Chad's shoulder. After all, he must be feeling the worst right now, he was responsible for Orihime and she had gotten fatally injured, possibly beyond saving, and he must be tearing himself up over this.

So, Ichigo looked up at Chad, with his hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't tear yourself up about this, man. It wasn't your fault, all right it was, but trust me, she will be fine."

Chad nodded and sat down with Ichigo and ate, luckily they finished right before the bell rang, so Ichigo got up, started walking, and waved to Chad, turning his head over his shoulder to say, "See you later Chad, remember, everything's going to be fine."

Before Ichigo walked down the stairway he saw Chad nod, and Ichigo nodded as well, feeling sure that Orihime would be fine…

Ichigo was walking home, reassuring himself that Orihime was fine, and when Ichigo got home, much to his surprise he found Orihime walking away from the shop. He ran up to her and shouted, "Wait, Orihime." Orihime turned around and smiled immediately, Ichigo smiled too. then Ichigo looked at where he had seen the hole earlier… Nothing. No bandages or anything. Now, Orihime was wearing he basic tee and jeans, however growing up in a pharmacy, Ichigo had learned to recognize quite a few things.

Ichigo ran up to her and swept her off her feet, pulling her into the air and embracing her. Orihime was surprised at first at this sudden action, however giggled as she was lifted into the air.

When Ichigo set her down, Orihime asked, "What was that for?"

Ichigo turned his head to the side, he really didn't know, he had just felt so happy that he, swept her off her feet. "I don't know, I'm just so glad that you are okay." he responded.

Orihime giggled. "Were you worried about me?" she said.

"Well, yeah, you had a hole in your chest that you got from doing something I should've done. I was worried sick." Ichigo responded.

Orihime shook her head, and replied, "No, don't blame yourself. You need to stay at school and learn for once. This incident was my fault, that attack came out of nowhere and I only had a split second to do something, so I jumped."

Ichigo pulled her tighter against him. "Well, you had me worried. Promise me, you won't hurt yourself that bad again, please."

"I promise."

"Great." Ichigo said, then suddenly pulled Orihime into a kiss.

It was a small one, they had locked lips for mere seconds, however Ichigo and Orihime immediately split apart.

Orihime started walking away, blushing, saying before she left, "Well, I better get home and rest, help the pain go away."

Ichigo nodded and responded, "Yeah, I could use a nap too. Bye."

Ichigo started walking back to the shop in disbelief. Ichigo did not know what had come over him, it was a small kiss, true, but it was still a kiss. Maybe it was what had happened yesterday, maybe it was because of the injury, Ichigo didn't know, but one thing he definitely knew for sure, was that when Ichigo was embracing Orihime, and lifting her up in the air, and listening to her laugh, and the little kiss that they shared all felt right. So with a bounce in his step and a smile on his face, Ichigo walked into the shop.

His dad of course immediately knew something was up. "What's her name." he said, sitting at a desk in the back of the room, with lots of papers scattered everywhere.

Ichigo paused and looked at his father, his face turning red by the slightest bit. "What, what do you mean 'What girl?' Nothing happened, I swear." Ichigo said, speaking kind of quickly and avoiding eye contact with his dad.

Isshin stood up and walked over to his son, saying, "You're a terrible liar." He put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "Now come on, what's her name."

Ichigo looked around to see if anyone else was here, there was no one of course, and looked his dad in the eye. "It's Orihime, dad, alright." he whispered, his face turning red.

"Eh," his dad said, holding it out and nodding his head, and he continued, playfully, saying, "looks like someone fell for the 'princess,' ain't that right Ichigo. So, is she a good kisser."

"Yeah," Ichigo said, looking into the sky, picturing that moment. Then he shook his head and continued, "I, I mean, well that's not important, it was one kiss alright. There, I said it."

Isshin poked Ichigo and teased, "Ooh, Strawberry's got a girlfriend."

Ichigo just rolled his eyes and walked away, up to his room, his dad still repeatedly teasing him. Ichigo kicked off his shoes and hopped in bed, reflecting on the recent events of what had been happening. The news from Orihime and how she had felt, heck, how she had felt for him all those years in school, always acting funny around him and doing wacky things, and the most recent one, the kiss they had shared outside near the shop. Ichigo smiled at the thought of that, that kiss they had shared. Finally, the day's events started to take a toll on him, and Ichigo smiled as he slowly drifted to sleep…

Ichigo's eyes cracked open, he was awake. He sat up and stretched with a loud yawn. He looked through the window blinds, huh, still dark out. Then he looked at the clock, his eyes finally starting to adjust to the darkness. It was about 3 in the morning. Ichigo was surprised, he had slept long, well, he was thinking of the whole Orihime situation, so he had rested easily, and what a great dream too, he thought. He remembered it as clean as day, Ichigo was walking through a wheat field, and up on a hill with a big single oak tree sat Orihime with a blanket and some food laid out. Orihime stood up and waved Ichigo over, and when Ichigo saw her, he smiled and ran towards her, and just like yesterday he scooped her up and kissed her. It was great, Ichigo did not remember much after that, but it was trivial stuff, like eating the food and running through the wheatfield together.

Anyways, Ichigo decided to grab a drink while he was up, then his belly growled, so he decided a bite to eat wouldn't hurt either. So Ichigo walked slowly down the stairs, careful not to be too loud and wake up Karin or Yuzu, but as Ichigo was walking down the stairs he heard something, it sounded like… Talking? As Ichigo walked down the stairs he heard it clearer and realized that it was his dad, most likely talking on the phone, for the conversation seemed very one-sided. As Ichigo got closer he heard it more clearly, and he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, careful not to show himself, for this sounded very important, so Ichigo leaned closer and listened, and he heard his dad say, "Yes, I will be able to pay by that date. Yes, there is no need to worry, in fact, I hear they are opening a new skate park here in Kakakura, there are surely going to be injuries there, and I just did a big operation on someone, so that's guaranteed to at least reach your demands."

Ichigo had no idea what was happening, but sounded bad, like, like dad owes someone money or something, he kept on listening though, trying not to miss a single detail, "What! What do you mean the price has gone up! Yes, terribly sorry for raising my voice." Ichigo heard a long sigh come from his dad, and he continued. "Yes, and thank you too. Yeah, goodbye."

Ichigo heard the click of their phone turn off, and he heard a loud smack noise, like someone plopping down into a chair, and yet again another groan. Ichigo risked a peek around the corner and saw what he expected, his dad sitting at his desk, typing away on the computer. Ichigo withdrew after a couple seconds of staring, and immediately made his way to his room. What had happened, what had he just seen? Ichigo got into his room and hopped into bed, all these thoughts flying through his head. Lucky for Ichigo he had slept for a while, because after that Ichigo had trouble falling asleep for a long time…

Ichigo walked into the shop, the bell ringing as he stepped in. School had been a blur, no Hollows today, not that he would have taken care of them anyway, so mainly it was just learning and avoiding Orihime. It was weird, Ichigo felt like he really liked her, but for some reason whenever he saw her, his mind just went blank and his face just turned red. Anyway, Ichigo walked in, and his dad, for some reason, looked really expectantly at him, and when he saw it was just him he sighed, going back to his desk. Ichigo walked up to the desk his dad was at, he had decided at school that he was going to confront his dad about last night face to face.

"Dad, I know about the phone conversation last night." Ichigo said.

Isshin looked up, a look of surprise on his face, but who would blame him. Out of the blue his son had just told him that he knew about the events of last night.

So, Isshin looked at Ichigo and asked, "Well, how much do you know?"

"I can guess that you owe someone money, but, why is my question." Ichigo replied.

Isshin shook his head, stood up, and grabbed Ichigo's shoulder. "Ichigo, you are the first to know this, besides me, and don't tell the girls, but, we are going to have to shut this place down if we don't get money soon." Isshin said.

Ichigo gasped and asked, "But, but why would we? I mean, people get hurt all the time!"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, as of late, we haven't been doing so well, and plus what we charge anyway is low-priced, we've hardly been scratching by lately." Isshin replied.

"Well, well, what can we do! This is not only our pharmacy, but if this place goes, then so does our home!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Yes, yes, that's why I need you to graduate this year." Isshin responded.

Ichigo blinked, "Wait, what." he said.

Isshin patted Ichigo's shoulder, "Have you forgotten my boy, this year is graduation!" Isshin said.

Ichigo had totally forgot, what with all the Soul Reaper duties until now, his father continued, "And with a high school diploma, you can at least do simple jobs, like working at a restaurant or other things."

Ichigo nodded and smiled, his dad letting go of his arm and getting back to work, but inside he was freaking out. "Hey, dad, say that someone hypothetically fails a quarter, what would happen then, hypothetically speaking, of course."

His dad looked up and smiled. "Well, that person would 'hypothetically' fail that grade and be held back a year. Why do you ask?" his dad asked, a curious look on his face.

"Oh, just a friend of mine was considering skipping the last quarter. I'll have to talk to him." Ichigo replied.

Ichigo and his dad then exchanged their goodbyes and Ichigo started walking to his room. As soon as he got in there and shut the door, Ichigo jumped into his bed and slammed his face in his pillow, groaning. Now what to do, Ichigo thought, now staying in school is even more important, I mean, I still believe in Chad and Orihime and that they'll get the job done, but look at what happened yesterday.

Ichigo just shook his head and stared at the ceiling, and said to himself, "What am I going to do."


End file.
